3of5COLORADO CITY, TX - JANUARY 21: Wind turbines are viewed at a wind farm on January 21, 2016 in Colorado City, Texas. Wind power accounted for 8.3 percent of the electricity generated in Texas during 2013. Texas, which in just the last five years has tripled its oil production and delivered hundreds of billions of dollars into the economy, is looking at what could be a sustained downturn in oil prices. Oil, which has now fallen to under $30 a barrel, has forced many oil companies to let go of workers and to abandon future projects. (Photo by Spencer Platt/Getty Images)Photo: Spencer Platt, Staff

Texas is the only state in the nation that operates its power grid without federal oversight. Did that contribute to Texas' rapid expansion in wind power?

Yes, according to a recent report, which examined how Texas achieved its wind power dominance.

Texas today is by far the nation's wind energy leader, accounting for about a fourth of the nation's installed wind power generating capacity. The state's wind projects have the capacity to generate more than 20,000 megawatts - enough to power some 5 million homes - which is triple the installed capacity of the No. 2 state, Iowa, according to the American Wind Energy Association, a trade group.

The study by the Southern Legislative Conference, a public policy forum for Southern states, suggests that Texas, in part, moved so rapidly into wind power because its grid is not connected to other states, so it does not come under the jurisdiction of the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission. That allowed transmission projects needed to bring power from remote wind farms to population centers to move ahead without going through the federal permitting process, opening markets for wind energy developers.

"Texas enjoys a unique competitive advantage: its own electric grid," the report said. "This unique environment has led to robust transmission development in the state."

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A mighty wind

Texas is the nation's top state in wind power. A few facts:

Installed capacity: 21,450 megawatts

Under construction: 5,184 megawatts

Turbines: 12,077

Investment: $38.4 billion

Equivalent U.S. homes power: 5.3 million

Source: American Wind Energy Association

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Wind power is still growing rapidly and becoming a bigger component of the state and the nation's power mix. The U.S. Department of Energy, for example, reported last week that wind is set to surpass hydroelectric power this year to become the nation's largest source of renewable energy.

Harnessing rivers and streams was one of the first technologies used to generate electricity, and hydroelectricity had remained the nation's dominant source of renewable power even as wind and solar power grew sharply in the past few years. But now the Energy Department expects wind power capacity to rise by 9 percent in 2018 and 8 percent in 2019.

As a result, wind is projected to provide nearly 7 percent of utility-scale power generation the U.S. this year, up from 6.3 percent in 2017, according to the Energy Departments. Hydropower's share is expected to fall to 6.5 percent in 2018 from 7.4 percent last year.

In Texas, meanwhile, wind generating capacity has surpassed coal as new wind projects come online and coal plants shut down. The state's grid manager, the Electric Reliability Council of Texas, said in November that coal generating capacity had slipped to 19,800 megawatts, making wind the second-largest power source the state after natural gas.

Texas's own minimalist approach to regulation helped wind get there, according the report by the Southern Legislative Council. In Texas, state, county and local governments have no regulatory power over where a wind project is located - that is up the landowner and developer - which in turn speeds siting, the report said

The state also made smart policy decisions, according to the report. In 2005, Texas chose to get ahead of renewable energy development by creating Competitive Renewable Energy Zones, where transmission lines were extended to help support wind power development in isolated regions of the state.

The transmission network has lured other types of renewable energy - such as solar power - to Texas, where companies find developing projects easier with existing transmission lines.

Ryan Maye Handy covers the regulation of utilities and oil and gas in Texas. She follows the Railroad Commission of Texas, the state’s oil and gas regulator, and the Public Utility Commission, and tracks trends in renewable energy growth across the state. She came to the Houston Chronicle in October 2016 from Colorado, where she worked as a reporter for nearly six years covering energy and the environment, county government and natural disaster recovery.